Health spending in the United States averaged $7,421 per person in 2007, totaling $2.2 trillion, or 16.2% of our nation's economy, up from 7.2% of GDP in 1970 and 12.3% of GDP in 1990

The top 1% of the U.S. population was responsible for 21% of health care spending in 2006

45 million nonelderly Americans were uninsured in 2007, and eight in ten were in families with at least one worker

Medicare covers 44 million Americans --16% of whom are under age 65 and disabled -- at a projected cost of $420 billion in 2009

Medicare accounts for 14% of the total federal budget, more than the 7% accounted for by Medicaid, but a smaller share than Social Security (22%) or defense (20%)

Employers are the principal source of health insurance in the United States, providing health benefits for about 159 million people, or about 53% of all Americans; however, the percentage of employers who offer such benefits has been falling: 69 percent offered health coverage benefits in 2000, compared to 63 percent in 2008

The average premium for family health coverage through an employer was $12,680 in 2008, of which covered workers paid an average of $3,354

Since 1999, family premiums for employer-sponsored insurance have increased 119 percent, while wages have gone up 34 percent and inflation has gone up 29 percent

Over the past 25 years, annual increases in national health spending per capita have exceeded increases in the Consumer Price Index, most recently 5.1% vs. 2.8% in 2007

The 24% of Medicaid enrollees who were elderly or disabled accounted for 70% of the program's $275 billion in federal and state spending on services in 2005 while only 30% of spending was for the 45 million children and adults who make up 76% of total enrollment

Medicaid pays 40% of all the nation's long-term care costs -- making it by far the largest payer for long-term care